‘I Don’t Do Interviews on Jan. 6’: GOP Senator Refuses to Comment on Stunning New Video Showing His Office Being Ransacked

Republican Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) refused to discuss the recently released video of his Capitol Hill office being trashed by pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.

The clip was released by as part of ongoing criminal proceedings surrounding the attack on the Capitol. NBC News’s Ryan Reilly, who has extensively covered the Jan. 6 trials, posted the video on Twitter this week with the caption, “Some actually newsworthy footage that was just released in connection with a Jan. 6 trial of Ed Badalian, the InfoWars superfan whose buddy drove a stun gun into Mike Fanone’s neck during the Capitol siege.”

“I can also report that a witness testified under oath last week that rioters defecated in that suite,” Reilly added.

NBC News caught up with Risch Thursday and asked the 79-year-old Republican if he had a comment on the clip, which showed his “trashed desk.”

“I don’t do interviews on Jan. 6, but thanks,” Risch replied.

“Asked again if he had a response to the newly released footage, the senator said only: ‘Thanks for asking,’” added NBC News, which noted former President Donald Trump remains very popular in Idaho.

Risch released a statement on the evening of Jan. 6, saying, calling the attack “unpatriotic and un-American in the extreme.”

“We are grateful to the law enforcement officers that placed themselves in harm’s way and kept those working at the Capitol safe today. I was proud to join my colleagues and reconvene at the Capitol tonight to prove that mob rule never prevails,” the statement added.

The newly released video coincides with an ongoing effort by some in right-leaning media to claim the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was largely non-violent and that rioters were more like sightseeing tourists – to summarize Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.

Over 140 Capitol Police officers sustained significant injuries on Jan. 6. “I have officers who were not issued helmets prior to the attack who have sustained head injuries,” Gus Papathanasiou, union chairman, said in a statement weeks after the riot. “One officer has two cracked ribs and two smashed spinal discs and another was stabbed with a metal fence stake, to name some of the injuries.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet Newsletter
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!